26. Sierra
SIERRA
P hew …We were done.
I reclined in my chair, stretching my back and groaning as I tried to work past the discomfort of being hunched over the industrial sewing machine for hours, whipping out costumes for the reshoots.
“I never want to see another button again,” Paisley complained, looking down at her hands. Her usual space buns had been abandoned for a messy knot at the top of her head. “I’ve given myself early onset arthritis and I don’t even want to think about the eyestrain.”
I chuckled, though I didn’t disagree. I’d loved working on this film and creating all these gorgeous twenties costumes, but I couldn’t help being glad that I was finally, truly done. Unrealistic deadlines for last-minute emergencies really took it out of a girl.
Finn had ordered the full costume department back to set, and we were given exactly forty-eight hours to replace or repair all the blood-splattered clothing from the original scene. I’d hardly gone home since he’d given the order.
There just wasn’t time !
Now I had three energy drinks buzzing through my system and enough bandages on my fingers that my new nickname should probably be “pincushion.”
But we were ready.
We’d delivered.
And that’s what mattered.
“Can you gather up the rest of the accessories for the background actors and take them to set?” I asked.
Everyone had already been through the costume shop this morning to get dressed, but we’d still needed to compare hats and pocket squares and all the other tiny details with the original sequence to be sure everyone matched.
“Sure thing,” Paisley said, gathering up all the accessories into a box. “Want me to bring anything else?”
“No, I’ll get the rest of Kaiden’s costume and bring it with me as soon as I steam it.
” It would have been easier to have the rest of my team already on set, helping the actors finish dressing, but I’d lost Carter and Trin in the process, having to send them home before they sewed their fingers to a pair of pants.
“Why don’t you head home when you’re done? ”
“Are you sure?” she said. “You don’t want someone to trade off with?”
I shook my head. Paisley was dead on her feet. And I was—okay, I was dead on my feet too, but there was no reason for two of us to suffer. I was the captain of this department, and I’d go down with the ship. “I don’t mind staying for the rest of the day. You’ve worked hard enough.”
“If anyone’s worked hard enough, it’s you,” she said .
“A requirement of the job.” I yawned. “But hopefully this is the last of it. Seriously, you get that stuff to set and head off. I’ll message you later to let you know how it goes.”
Paisley grabbed the box and hurried off while I hung Kaiden’s new blood-splatter-free shirt on a wire rack. While I waited for the steamer to heat up, I swapped my can of RevX for the cold mug of coffee I’d brewed an hour ago, popping it into the microwave.
I took a sip once it was done, then steamed the shirt until it was perfectly wrinkle free.
Buzzzzz. Buzzzzz. Buzzzzz .
Grabbing my phone, I couldn’t keep from groaning when I saw MOM flash across the screen.
And then—immediately after—I felt guilty.
Did I have the energy to deal with Mom right now?
No, not really. But would I feel like a terrible person if I ignored her call when I technically did have a minute to talk?
Yeah, probably. It might be a little hard to remember right at this moment, but I did love my mom, and I didn’t want to make her feel ignored or unsupported.
I picked up my phone and carried it into my office where I locked the door behind me, thumping down heavily into my chair.
“Hey, Mom,” I said, resisting the urge to recline a bit. The last thing I needed was to fall asleep, but this chair was dangerously comfortable.
“Hi, honey,” she said, her voice pitched and wobbly. I went on alert like I’d been injected with a shot of caffeine. Uh-oh . I knew that tone, and it rarely meant anything good.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Oh, nothing,” Mom said, trying to play it off.
“ Mom ,” I said pointedly .
“I don’t know,” she said, letting out a heavy breath. “It’s just… Larry .”
“What about Larry? Is he okay?”
“He’s fine, I guess. It’s just…last night when we went out to dinner, he didn’t pull my chair out like he usually does. And I know this sounds ridiculous,” Mom said, her words colliding in a panicked rush. “But I also know Larry, and he’s never not pulled out my chair.”
That’s what this was about? I briefly considered putting my head through the wall. “Maybe he was just tired.”
“ He was the one who wanted to go out!” Mom said.
“Right, but I mean, that part of the relationship doesn’t usually last forever.
You know, all those little things a couple does to impress each other right at the start?
They naturally start to fade when you’re more comfortable together and don’t feel like you have to show off. It doesn’t mean anything is wrong.”
“Larry’s just that guy,” Mom said. “I always thought he’d be pulling my chair out until neither of us can see straight.”
“Then maybe he just had something else on his mind?”
“Mm-hmm,” Mom said. “That’s what I’m worried about. That he’s thinking about something he’s not telling me.”
“Well, how was the conversation during dinner?” I asked, trying to be as supportive as I could while also wondering if any of these things were red flags I should actually be worried about.
Was it possible Larry really was having second thoughts about the marriage?
Mom had been the one to propose, after all.
Did that mean she was more committed to the relationship than he was?
“Fine,” Mom huffed. “Larry isn’t exactly a chatterbox on a good day. But something just felt… off . ”
My stomach sank as Mom kept talking, and my mind drifted to the way things felt slightly off with Finn lately, also.
After watching the ruined footage, I’d chased after a distraught Cathleen, trying to calm her down, trying to explain that Finn was simply stressed about the project and that was the reason he was lashing out.
As I’d looked into her watery eyes, I’d told her Finn hadn’t meant any of the things he’d said, but she’d simply shook her head.
It was clear she didn’t believe me. I’d tried to get Finn to call her that first evening, to talk things out, but he’d been so wound up that I’d figured forcing the issue would just make things worse.
I’d decided to wait for him to calm down…
but that never happened. I’d been walking on eggshells with him since.
“—every time I try to ask him about it, he just assures me nothing is wrong,” Mom said, sounding bothered and uncertain.
I sighed. “Well, maybe?—”
My office door flew open—my locked door—and Finn stood there, one hand on the doorknob, the other wrapped around the doorframe, nostrils flaring like he’d just run a mile. Since when did he have the key to my office? Since when did he come barging inside?
“Why aren’t you on set?” he snapped.
“Gotta go, Mom. I’m sure everything is fine. I’ll call you later,” I said, hanging up. I got to my feet, one eyebrow arching at his tone. “I was on my way, just had to take a quick call.”
“We don’t have time for calls. I need a wardrobe supervisor on set before we?—”
“Paisley is already there,” I assured him. “I sent her ahead of me to finalize the background actors. And I’ve got Kaiden’s shirt ready to go. We’re right on time. ”
Finn grumbled something about being late if we weren’t ten minutes early. It didn’t seem worth it to argue, so I just grabbed the shirt and followed him to our driver.
We drove to set, and I pressed my hand to Fin’s knee, squeezing, trying to bring him a modicum of comfort, but I wasn’t sure if he even noticed it. He spent the drive over on the phone, snapping at Brenna about why the armorer was late.
“How the hell are we supposed to film a shootout when the guy in charge of weapon safety isn’t even on set yet?”
By the time we reached the soundstage, I’d given up trying to calm him down and instead focused on my own tasks, taking over as wardrobe supervisor from Paisley and sending her home before helping Kaiden into his shirt, getting it buttoned and tucked into his suspenders.
“Hey!” he said, flashing me a charming grin. “You’d never know I’d already bled out in this thing before. That’s some sort of costuming magic.”
I smiled back. At least someone appreciated all my hard work. I knew Finn wanted everything to be perfect, and it would be, because everyone here was dedicated to making that happen. I just wish he’d calm down long enough to realize that.
We’d already had the worst-case scenario.
He didn’t need to keep planning for more.
But as the actors were corralled onto the soundstage, the camera team took their positions, and X started directing, it became clear that Finn had no intention of stepping back and letting us all do our jobs without interference.
“Let’s try to be a little less cardboard!” Finn called over to background actors. “You’re blending in with the bricks. ”
“Are you going to stand in every shot?” X snapped at him.
“Someone needs to make sure people are doing what they’re hired to do,” Finn shot back.
“Get the hell off my soundstage, Lockhart.”
“ Your soundstage?” Finn growled.
X glared at him before shifting his headphones back over his ears and shouting, “ACTION!”
Finn scowled and paced behind X, snapping his own directions after every take. As the two of them sniped at each other, the energy grew tense and uncomfortable. I wanted to be anywhere but here. Frankly, I didn’t know how the actors could handle it while still delivering on their performances.
“CUT!” X shouted as Finn barked a correction at Kaiden, interrupting a spray of fake gunfire and sending the actors into a flurry of confusion, crashing into each other and stumbling over props.
“Shit!” Kaiden cried, holding up his torn sleeve. It had ripped along a seam I’d repaired earlier.
“Sierra!” Finn barked. I rubbed my eyes. I was going to kill him if he didn’t stop backseat directing.
“I see it,” I grumbled through my teeth, digging out my emergency sewing kit and rushing onto the soundstage to hastily repair the damage. “Give me five minutes.”
“You’ve got two and then I want things reset!”
“Get out of my shot!” X barked at him. “Are you the director?”
“Boy, he’s a peach today, eh?” Kaiden said as I drew near enough to patch up his sleeve. I tried to smile away the tension .
“I think everyone’s more than ready to call this project done,” I said diplomatically, tying the fastest stitches of my life before Finn could snap at a PA to drag me out of the shot. “Okay, you’re good,” I said to Kaiden, rushing out of the way. “All fixed!”
X had the camera crew reset, and the madness started all over again.
As I stood there, it felt like I was watching something fall apart, and I had no idea what to do about it.
The working relationship between X and Finn was ruined, Shaw looked like she was ready to take an acting hiatus the moment this was over, and all I could do was try to make things look pretty.
Look perfect. The way I knew Finn wanted them. But right now, even that wasn’t enough.
I watched once again as Kaiden collapsed, riddled with fake bullets, into Shaw’s arms, with nothing but a sinking feeling in my gut.